"This is the sum or substance of our religion; to wit, to feel and discern the two seeds:...and to feel the judgments of God administered to the one of these, till it be brought into bondage and death; and the other raised up in the love and mercy of the Lord to live in us, and our souls gathered into it, to live to God in it." --Isaac Penington, The Sum or Substance of Our Religion Who Are Called Quakers, Works, Volume II p. 441

Sunday, July 01, 2012

My "experience" is as unreliable a source of grounding and authority as the Bible is. Both lead me to draw my own inferences and then be guided by these rationalistic notions--instead of being guided, day by day, by what God is telling me directly.

I have laid down both the Protestant notion of reasoning my way to righteousness from the Bible, and the "Quaker" notion of reasoning my way to righteousness from my own experience.

Neither has or can improve my condition because both come down to worshipping and relying on my own reason.

If I hear God and do as I am told then I am fine.

It's all the theology I need. In fact, it's all the theology I can handle. Anything else just gets me in trouble.

3 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I don't know where you got the idea that Friends reason their way to righteousness from their own experience. The meaning of the Light Within as Friends have understood it is found in the first chapter of the Gospel of John. "The light that enlightens the world" (John 1:9) is not the light of reason, it is that divine life which took form in the shape of Jesus, who calls us also to embody that same Life or Light as He did. It is experience, true, but it is the direct experience of the Holy Spirit inspiring and guiding each of us, in community with other Friends, to which we submit in humility and gratitude. I know there are Friends who would not say it this way, but I can't think of any group of Friends who envision the kind of radical rationalistic individualism that you describe. How did you come to that conclusion? I'm puzzled by that.

Well, honestly, I was trying to argue AGAINST that sort of reasoning-our-way-to-righteousness! I agree that it's our job to hear God and do what he says . . . but I've noticed that we sometimes have trouble dividing that from our own opinion. That was sorta my point. But . . . it probably wasn't very clear. I imagine I'll do some more rambly exploring over the next few months!

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About Me

I am a convinced Beanite Friend, a member of Bridge City Friends Meeting, Willamette Quarterly Meeting and North Pacific Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends.
Notwithstanding the doubts of some who claim the name, I am a Christian who does a Buddhist practice and believes that God talks to everyone, all the time.
I have worked in the judicial branch of government, as well as being a trial lawyer, a public school teacher (counselor and coach), a kite merchant, and a Marine Corp Sergeant.
I am currently working as a consultant to public and private agencies on issues of child welfare, juvenile justice, and substance abuse treatment courts.

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And this is the cause why many turn from him to the teachings of men or books, because they can mostly turn their teachings to suit their own needs...And there is great cause to fear that if those in our Society who are united with those among others in very improperly setting up the Scriptures above their true value are adhered to, they will finally divide and scatter us, as they have all other professors of Christianity--for considerable disputes have already arisen concerning passages of the first importance.Elias Hicks,Letter to Phebe Wllis, 5th month 19th 1